Buying Dealer Demos

Having worked in a local shop you'd be surprised at how little playing time most demo speakers get.Even the most popular models only get short burst of use even on busy days.It's not like there hooked up playing all day.The most likely source of potential damage is less than carefull employees knocking them about.So get a feel for your dealers concern for the eqipment he sells.Take a peek in the listening rooms to see if care was taken in set up and cableing.It won't take long to figure where the shops heart is and yes well cared for demo gear is a good investment.

This may be obvious, but get up-close-and-personal with the speakers and listen for any scraping noises (from a really donged voice coil), fuzzy noises (burned out tweeters) and anything that doesn't sound like music. Also, check for excessive wear of grill cloth covers (if you intend to use them) as these come off-and-on countless times and can make noise if stretched out. Finally, check for physical damage (smashed corners, scratched verneer, damaged binding posts) as this will definitely affect resale value.

Also worked in a shop once upon a time, definitely agree with Mar00 on the playing time issue (not that I think this really matters very much) - my speakers at home get a lot more daily playing time on average than any one thing did back in the store.

I purchased a dealer demo and after checking ser # with Mfg. found out it was over 5 years old. After this nightmare on next purchase i asked dealer to send ser# and found out from Mfg. they were 3 years old.

Dennis refers to demo gear being 5 years old as a "nightmare" - again, I don't see anything shockingly different between this and a typical item purchased used here on the 'Gon. Just like asking a fellow member how old the unit they're selling is (which is sometimes unknown due to multiple owners), the dealer should make no big secret of a component's age. Demo's are usually first received when a new product is introduced, and often aren't sold until it's been discontinued or upgraded (or the dealer drops the line), so the average demo is often as old as is possible for any given model, i.e. year of first introduction. This should be reflected in the price. One more time: If the item looks good and sounds good, then one can assume that it is good - and if it's not, you've got a warranty.